“Only if you are prepared to enter this dark world can you read them. But if you do – there will be no going back.”

  Michelle sat down. She drew the first file toward her. The paper felt heavier than it should, as if it carried the weight of the girl it described.

  Trella. The Boss, the rock, the one who pulled me into this world in the first place. I′m ready.

  She opened it…

  File 1: Trella Moretti, codename “Boss”. Age 15. Born in Southern Italy. Daughter of a respected local “Familia” that acted as protectors of their rural region. She witnessed the violent destruction of her entire family at age 6 after a mafia incursion. Kidnapped, tortured, and sold into human trafficking before acquisition by the Organization.

  Enhancement response: Standard augmentation, strength, agility, reflexes, pain tolerance. Secondary enhancements: Unusual neurological response → heightened intelligence, tactical processing speed, and exceptional muscle reinforcement. Capable of operating heavy firearms one-handed. Training Specialization: Close-to-mid range combat, squad leadership and tactical command.

  Psychological evaluation: Outward presentation is calm, confident, charismatic. Subconscious trauma: severe PTSD linked to early life events. Conditioning is stable under most missions, but risk of “red phase” psychotic break when confronted with specific trauma triggers.

  Case note: During operation in Italy, Trella encountered a mafioso linked to her childhood torture. The subject exhibited uncontrollable rage response, slaughtering targets indiscriminately. Required sedation for 72+ hours post-capture.

  Wow… That sure is a big burden. Aya wasn′t kidding, when she said the others also have a dark past. Allright, next file…

  File 2: Aiko Tanaka, codename “Shadow”. Age 12. Born in Japan. Parents killed in Yakuza turf conflict. Subject survived on the streets at the age of 5 with a group of homeless people, then extracted by Organization scouts and inducted into the program.

  Enhancement response: Standard augmentation, heightened reflexes, improved stamina. Amplified response: Exceptional speed and agility, enhanced proprioception (awareness of body in space). Lightweight physiology amplifies effects — subject is one of the fastest among all active operatives.

  Capabilities: Advanced martial arts training beyond standard regimen. Specialized in Japanese swordsmanship. Silent infiltration and elimination; adept at fitting into narrow passages or ventilation systems for sabotage.

  Psychological evaluation: Brainwashing stable, no trauma triggers detected. Emotional baseline: calm, detached, almost expressionless. Interpersonal engagement: minimal. Rarely speaks unless necessary.

  Weaknesses and limitations: Physically weaker due to age and size — cannot match strength-based combatants. Prefers stealth engagements; extended firefights reduce effectiveness.

  File 3: Mei-Ling Hsiao, codename “Lotus”. Age 14. Born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in a poor fishing district. Her father was a violent drunk who gambled away everything and her mother worked long shifts in a textile factory. From a young age, Mei-Ling learned to survive by her own hands. At 6, she was already stealing knives from markets, both for protection and for sport. She’d practice throwing them at fish crates and abandoned walls. One night, her father sold her to a loan shark to pay off debts. That loan shark didn’t want a child, but someone at the Organisation did. Mei-Ling was trafficked, shipped in a crate, and handed over as a subject to the Organisation’s handlers at the age of 7. Unlike some recruits, she didn’t resist training. In fact, she thrived on it. The moment she was given real blades, her natural instincts showed terrifying precision.

  Serums enhanced her reflexes, coordination, and muscle control to unnatural levels. Unlike most, she displayed immediate ambidexterity — she could switch weapons between hands without hesitation, even mid-strike. In advanced training, she created her signature weapon combo: kukri knives linked with a leather cord, modified into rope-dart-like weapons. Instructors noted she not only learned existing techniques but invented her own.

  Exceptionally fast learner. Enjoys combat to the point of eagerness — perfect for high-morale missions where enthusiasm matters. Fearless in close quarters. Sometimes overconfident - takes risks just to “show off.” Doesn’t fully understand restraint; tends to go further than necessary when finishing a target. Lotus and Shadow form a highly effective close range combat duo: the “Sword dancers”.

  The Sword dancers… Pretty fitting. How those two move is simply amazing. Who is next…

  File 4: Samira Khalil, codename “Cherry Bomb”. Age 13. Expert in explosions, demolitions & booby traps. Extracted at age 6 in Mosul, Iraq. True birthplace is unconfirmed. Her father was a bomb-maker for a local militant group. She grew up in an environment where explosives were as common as kitchen tools. She learned shapes, wires, and chemical smells before she learned to write. At 6 years old, a botched explosion in their safehouse killed both her parents and several fighters. Samira, badly shaken but physically unharmed, was found playing with the unexploded ordinance fragments by scavengers.

  Those scavengers sold her on the black market — too strange, too dangerous to keep.

  Enhancement response: Standard augmentations, heightened strength, speed, reflexes. Cognitive amplification: enhanced problem-solving and technical intelligence. Manifested in instinctive affinity for chemistry, mechanics, and explosives engineering.

  Expert in creation, deployment, and disarmament of explosive devices. Operates a personal micro-lab where she improvises ordnance. Adept at handling military-grade explosives (C4, Semtex, ANFO) but prefers “homemade” devices. Confident under pressure, takes almost gleeful pride in detonations.

  Psychological evaluation: Personality: outwardly cheerful, playful, but verges on manic when working with explosives. Displays sadistic satisfaction at successful detonations — possible imprint from early trauma. Possible subconscious trauma: loud sudden noises sometimes don’t trigger fear but instead trigger curiosity and excitement. This inverted psychological reaction is the direct result of her upbringing.

  File 5: Katya Morozova, codename “Ghost”. Age 14. Born in a decaying industrial city in northern Russia. Her father was a miner, her mother an office worker. Poverty, alcoholism, and crime were everyday realities. One night, a fire broke out in their apartment building — whether it was an accident, or something else - no one ever confirmed. Katya survived only because she had been outside, wandering the neighborhood at 7 years old. She returned to find her home in flames, her parents dead, and no relatives to take her in. In the confusion that followed, she was simply missed by the system — no one claimed her, no one asked. That’s when the Organisation stepped in, scooping her up under the guise of “rescue.”

  Enhancements & training: Serum amplified her reflexes and sharpened her eyesight to near-predatory levels. When tested with firearms, she showed unshakable calm and uncanny precision — never flinching, never overthinking. Her ability to stay still for hours without complaint made her perfect for sniper discipline. She mastered long-range shooting, but also the psychological aspect: patience, detachment, and reading her targets.

  Psychological evaluation: Calm, collected, almost languid in her demeanor. Doesn’t show much excitement or stress; it’s as if her pulse rarely rises. She doesn’t “enjoy” killing, but she accepts it as her daily bread, like breathing. Her “invisibility” is not literal stealth — it’s the way she blends into her surroundings by being unremarkable, quiet, and forgettable. She isn’t a natural leader, nor is she eager to bond — she exists best in the periphery, watching.

  File 6: Aya N’Komo, codename “Beast”. Age 15. Heavy assault / shock trooper. Born in Central Africa. Born with partial albinism (white hair, otherwise normal pigmentation). Tribal superstition split on whether she was omen or curse; ultimately condemned to be a “religious sacrifice” at age 6, tied to a tree and abandoned. Recovered by Organization scouts and transferred to a training facility.

  Enhancement response: Standard augmentation, increased strength, speed, reflexes, endurance. Amplified response: extraordinary muscle density and bone reinforcement. The subject exhibits physical power significantly above other enhanced individuals. Conscious self-conditioning: subject actively pushes physical limits beyond safe thresholds.

  Capabilities: Close combat dominance, heavy weapon proficiency, intimidation asset.

  Psychological evaluation: No major subconscious trauma markers post-conditioning. Behavioral risk: extreme irritability and very short temper. Incident report: local gang attempted mugging; subject inflicted near-lethal injuries even while consciously restraining strength. Multiple hospitalizations drew law enforcement scrutiny.

  Weaknesses and limitations: Hydrophobia. Subject cannot swim, has strong fear of drowning. Sea operations to be avoided.

  File 7: Elisabeth “Liza” Grünwald, codename “Poison Ivy”. Age 13. Born in Austria to a dysfunctional family, Elisabeth’s early life was filled with neglect. Her father was violent, her mother absent. By age 5, Liza was already slipping between moments of bright laughter and dark, erratic behavior. When her father finally abandoned her in the woods, she was found days later, malnourished, hallucinating, and half-feral.

  That was when the Organisation’s scouts picked her up. On paper she was just “another lost child,” but her instability caught the eye of the scientists. She was sent directly into serum trials, where her fragile mind bent under the pressure. Instead of breaking her, the serum warped her, sharpening her reflexes and intelligence while also amplifying her fractured psyche.

  Specialisation: Her poison obsession came naturally. Liza loved watching things writhe and collapse — a fascination that grew once she was given access to the Organisation’s labs. She excelled at gas dispersal systems, toxins, and needle-assassination methods, developing a signature claw that she fills with her own mixes. Thanks to her knowledge of biology and anatomy she also became the teams′ field medic and lab assistant of Dr. Dragovic.

  Psychological evaluation: Two-sided: cheerful “sunshine girl” one second, manic devil with a cruel grin the next. Has partial immunity to some of her own concoctions, but careless — sometimes exposes teammates. Forms a dangerous duo with Cherry Bomb — Liza builds toxins, Cherry makes them explode. Their combined chaos has earned them the nickname “The Witches”.

  This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

  File 8: Anya Volkova, codename “Uzi”. Age 14. Born in a poor Ukrainian village, Anya was never wanted. Her parents saw only her beauty — wide blue eyes, golden hair — and when money grew tight, they sold her into a trafficking ring. From age 6, Anya lived in a nightmare of exploitation, trained to please and perform, her childhood erased in exchange for someone else’s profit.

  At 9 years old, she was “rescued” — but not by heroes. The Organisation acquired her from the traffickers. Officially she became “an orphan,” another child nobody wanted, perfect material for their experiments. Brainwashing was applied, but not thoroughly: fragments of memory stuck deep in her subconscious, shaping her strongly.

  Enhancements: Serums amplified speed, accuracy, ambidexterity. Combat Role: running gunner — she charges headfirst into enemy squads, dual Uzis blazing, “crashing the party” in a blur of bullets and laughter. Recklessly fast, her attacks overwhelm before the enemy can react.

  Psychological evaluation: Her childhood trauma left two fragments in her subconsciousness. Fragment one - her awareness of her own body, how men had looked at her, how it was “used.” Twisted into power, she now flaunts her form — tight clothes, semi-revealing outfits, confidence weaponized. She knows how to bait, distract, or pose as a femme fatale to lure targets closer. With make-up and the right clothes, she can appear far older.

  Fragment two - her parents’ betrayal. Years later, she tracked them down while on a mission in Ukraine. Not out of rage — but cold calculation. She murdered them slowly, methodically, smiling as she whispered “hello, I was your daughter” before ending them. That revenge gave her closure, but it also showed how unstable she really was.

  Personality: Cheerful, arrogant, hyperactive. Cruel streak: enjoys watching people suffer, often toys with her victims. Loves the thrill of combat — her giggles often echo in firefights, unnerving even allies. Like her namesake guns — short bursts, but devastating.

  File 9: Amelie Vogt, codename “Nightmare”. Age 14. Amelie was born in Frankfurt, Germany, into an ordinary middle-class family. Nothing seemed wrong at first — but by the age of 5, her parents noticed her disturbing behavior. She would mutilate animals for fun, laughed when other children cried, and began inventing cruel “games” that always left someone injured. By age 6, she attacked a classmate so violently the child ended up in hospital. Her parents, terrified, gave up. Amelie was committed to a mental health institution for children — officially for treatment, unofficially because nobody wanted her at home. At first she played the role of a model patient: smiling, polite, calm. Then the night came when she stabbed an orderly in the leg with a dinner knife “to see how sharp it was.” At age 8, the Organisation saw an opportunity. They pulled her from the asylum under the guise of a secret rehabilitation program. In truth, she was perfect material: already violent, already broken. Brainwashing “stabilized” her — but really, it just layered obedience over her natural sadism. Then came the serums. The result? Her mind was not repaired. It was amplified. Stronger body, stronger impulses. Nightmare was born.

  Enhancements: superhuman strength (second only to “Beast”). Able to carry and fire heavy machine guns solo. Can punch through doors, dent cars, or throw grown men across rooms. Prefers heavy automatics (FN Minimi, Browning BAR) → sheer suppressive firepower. Aside from that she has a specially designed heavy scythe for close quarters combat. She is a living battering ram. In open terrain she is devastating, a one-girl storm of bullets. In cities… chaos.

  Psychological evaluation: She learned to fake “normalcy.” Dresses in gothic lolita / occult styles, plays the role of a gloomy teenager with a morbid sense of humor. True self - psychotic, sadistic, violent. Enjoys causing pain, enjoys fear even more. She tries to suppress her mania in daily life, but cracks often show: creepy smiles at the wrong moment, whispering to herself, sudden bursts of aggression or hysterical laughs.

  Notable Incident: An operation in Berlin outskirts. The task was to eliminate a group of radical extemists. Nightmare, against orders, jumped two stories down onto a parked car, crushing its roof flat. Without missing a beat, she pulled out a BAR and tore through every hostile in sight. Zero civilian casualties — but property damage was big, police attention unavoidable. She was nearly terminated after this, but her effectiveness kept her alive.

  File 10: Maya Cortez, codename “Rider”. Age 18. Born in New Mexico USA (Latino descent). Maya Cortez was one of the Organisation’s earlier test subjects, taken in at the age of 8. Like others from that generation, she underwent brainwashing and early-stage serum treatments. The serums enhanced her speed, endurance, and reflexes, but not to the same extraordinary levels as the later Fangs. To keep up, Maya threw herself into relentless training, building strength and skill the hard way.

  Her saving grace came in the form of a Cuban trainer, Raúl Herrera, a grizzled guerrilla warfare veteran in his late forties. Maya idolized him with the loyalty of a soldier who finally found someone worth following. He taught her urban warfare tactics, survival skills, and discipline. Years later, when Herrera left the group, Maya defected alongside him. She stayed with Herrera until his death from terminal lung cancer. True to his legacy, he chose to go out fighting — dying on his feet in a raid rather than wasting away in bed. After his passing, Maya drifted on her own for a time. During those years, she embraced rebellion, covering herself with tattoos and piercings — not trophies, but marks of self-expression and defiance. Eventually, she returned to the Fangs, on her own terms.

  Specialization: Urban warfare specialist – trained extensively in close-quarters battle and ambush tactics. Expert in vehicular combat, motorcycle maneuvers, and high-speed evasions. As a tactician she relies on experience and discipline rather than raw enhancements. Also serves as the getaway driver for the team.

  Psychological evaluation: Unlike some of the others, Maya is mentally stable. Grounded, pragmatic, and experienced, she is the squad’s reliable combatant. She knows her limits, but compensates with tactical cunning and hard-earned grit. Despite her loyalty to the Fangs, she maintains a streak of independence and carries herself with the swagger of someone who’s survived more than once on her own. Her love for speed is legendary, motorcycles are her obsession. Nothing makes her feel more alive than the roar of an engine beneath her and the wind in her face. The rush translates into her combat style: fast, aggressive, and hard to pin down.

  File 11: Milena Dragovi?, codename “Doc”. Age 22. Serbia (Kosovo conflict survivor). Role: Medic, serum technician, interrogator. She grew up in a warzone, helping her parents (both doctors) treat rebels and civilians. Exposed early to blood, amputations, and death; developed a cold pragmatism. Orphaned after her parents were killed; taken by the Organisation at 12.

  Enhancements: Early serum trials enhanced her intelligence rather than her body. Physically unimpressive, but mentally razor-sharp. Initially considered a failed subject until she instinctively saved lives during an explosion incident. Reassigned as medic trainee; quickly excelled in medicine, biology, and chemical sciences. Later became essential to serum production and maintenance — administering the replenishment cycles to all active Fangs.

  Special skills: Advanced field medicine, surgery, and trauma care. Deep knowledge of the Organisation’s serum maintenance protocols. Skilled interrogator with a taste for sadistic methods, often using her medical expertise for controlled torture. Basic combat training; favors pistols and scalpels when needed, but tries to avoid combat at all cost.

  File 12: Talia Graves, codename “Fixer”. Age 17. Graves grew up in the ghettos of Detroit, scavenging and repairing broken electronics, vehicles, and weapons. By her early teens she was already designing improvised drones and hacking consumer electronics. Her resourcefulness and low regard for moral boundaries made her adaptable to the Fangs’ needs. Talia Graves was never meant to be part of the program. Encountered by accident during an operation in Detroit, she was originally marked for termination to maintain operational secrecy. However, her exceptional technical abilities, quick thinking, and willingness to cooperate convinced unit leader Trella to bring her into the fold. Unlike other assets, Graves has received no enhancements or conditioning.

  Abilities: technical expertise, weapons modification, field repairs, drones, surveillance systems, IED design, hacking. Rapid improvisation - can build and deploy effective solutions under pressure using limited resources. Unenhanced Physiology: No combat serum enhancements. Limited combat ability compared to other operatives. Relies on intellect and equipment.

  Operational value: Graves has proven indispensable in several missions where equipment failure or tactical disadvantage would have otherwise resulted in casualties. She compensates for her lack of combat enhancements with innovative support systems — particularly her weaponised drones and hacking skills.

  Serum, dependency cycle and irreversible enhancements. So that’s the cost. No miracle without a chain to go with it. All right, the last stack. This is it. The real monster under the bed. Time to meet it face to face.

  File 0: History of the Organisation, Project Pandora & Black Fang Program.

  Founded by industrialist, multi-millionaire and CEO of Thanatos Enterprises: Xavier Thanatos. The original goal was to develop mind-control pharmaceuticals. Instead an enhancement serum has been created. Early experiments failed until tested on a young girl. Enhancement worked, but the subject went insane and had to be terminated. Key finding: serum only worked on female physiology (genome & hormonal factors).

  2014-2015 - Early program

  Serums were tested on young teenagers without brainwash. One of them was Milena Dragovi?, who came in at the age of 12. Two subjects were partially enhanced but became unstable and had to be terminated. Milena survived but showed only mental enhancement. Results show that success requires prepubescent subjects. Development of full brainwash protocol (memory wipe, obedience protocol, linguistic skills). The first true success came with the 8 years old subject Maya Cortez. Enhancements were limited compared to later subjects, but stable. She has been considered the prototype soldier.

  2016-2019 - Development & expansion

  The serum has been continuously improved. In the year 2016 two new recruits: Trella Moretti and Aya N′Komo were brought in. Significant enhancements have been achieved. The peak of the program was in the years 2017-2019. The majority of current Fangs was created during this period. Not all subjects survived due to side effects, serum rejection, instability, insanity. The new serum required regular supplementation of some of its components, dependency created. Maya Cortez remained unique: earlier weaker serum version did not create a dependency.

  2020 - The collapse

  The last successful enhancement was in early 2020 in the form of Anya Volkova. Later that year a disaster hit the program. Xavier Thanatos has been killed by one of his business partners motivated by greed. He tried to seize assets & some of the enhanced girls. The research facility has been destroyed in a massive explosion, unclear if it was an accident, sabotage or security protocol. The majority of the staff and scientists have been killed and the research lost. All seized girls died, since they had no access to the supplement serums. Only survivors were the subjects and staff in the remote training facility: 10 girls, who later formed the Black Fang, trainers Raúl Herrera - a Cuban guerrilla legend, Yael Ben-Ari (Israeli ex-Mossad, codename Black Butterfly), Milena Dragovi?, a scientist with the knowledge to create and distribute the supplement serums and the mission coordinator Joseph Dawson, who assumed leadership.

  2020-2023 - Black Fang mercenary era

  After the fall Joseph Dawson reorganised survivors as Black Fang, using remaining funds to build a base on a small island near the coast of Mexico. Black Fang became guns-for-hire. Standing order remained to track and kill the traitor. In the year 2022 Raúl Herrera retired due to poor health. Maya accompanied him until his death. In the year 2023 Talia Graves was recruited, became “Fixer”. Later that year the traitor was located and executed. Yael Ben-Ari retired. She went to live in South America.

  2024-present day - Transition to US Black Ops

  Summer 2024: Encounter with US CIA during a hostage rescue mission. Both sides cooperated successfully. Second collaboration confirmed the Fangs’ effectiveness. Late in 2024 US intelligence agencies offered amnesty, asylum, clean records and cover identities in exchange for exclusive black ops work. Joseph Dawson accepted. The Black Fang relocated to the US under cover of St. Helena Orphanage in Odenton, MA in early 2025.

  And since then they live dual lives… I know who they are now. And I’ve chosen.

  Dawson met her gaze. Then pulled out a blank folder. Slowly, he wrote a single word across the tab. CIPHER